Celebrating the ADA: Balancing on Her Own

The Americans with Disabilities Act turns 23 this week, on July 26. To commemorate the anniversary of this groundbreaking law, we’re highlighting the stories of those who have turned to bicycling to help propel them forward in their communities, and we’ll be posting blogs every day this week. This post comes from Liz Horvat, the Programs to Educate All Cyclists Development Director. She shares Katie’s story.

Katie has been in our program for many years and every year her BIG goal is to learn to balance a two-wheeled bike.

This year, on assessment day, I saw huge progress in Katie’s walking and balance on two-wheeled bike from last summer. After talking with Katie (one of the best goal-setters I know!), we decided that her goal would be to walk around the track one time completely unassisted by anyone. Katie and I talked about a sticker chart plan and how each day she would go a little further and at the end of the summer have walked a full lap by herself. On Monday, as we were transitioning from the tricycle to a two-wheeled bike, Katie began her walk around the track, using the stop sign as the starting mark.

After a few unsteady first steps, Katie found her balance and proceeded to walk ALL THE WAY AROUND THE TRACK, unassisted! As she was rounding the last bend, she was encouraged by the other students and parents from the session, as well as the staff, and she could be heard saying, “I did it! I met my goal” as she crossed over the finish line!